V. I. Lenin

Draft Resolution of the International Socialist Women’s Conference{1}

Resolution Motioned by the C. C. Delegation

Published:Supplement toSotsial-DemokratNo. 42, June 1, 1915.

      Printed from the text of the Supplement.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1977,

      Moscow,Volume 41,

      pages346.2-348.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marxists.org)
      © 2004

      Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the
      terms of theGNU Free Documentation License.

Thecurrent world war, which is the cause of so much
distress wherever it has broken out, which has devastated and ruined
Belgium and Galicia, and which has ruined the lives of thousands upon
thousands of workers—this war is an imperialist one, caused by the
struggle between the ruling classes of various countries for a division of
the colonies and domination of the world market, and by dynastic
Interests. It is a natural continuation of the policy conducted by the
class of capitalists and the governments of all countries,and that is why the question of who struck out first is altogether
irrelevant from the socialist standpoint.

Thiswar, far from serving any interests of the workers, is in fact a
weapon in the hands of the ruling classes for disrupting the international
solidarity of the workers and weakening their movement and class struggle
in each country. Similarly, the “defend your country” watchword, put
forward by the bourgeoisie and supported by the opportunists, is nothing
but a bait to which the bourgeoisie hopes the proletariat will rise and be
induced to give their life and blood for its interests.

Inview of all this, the Extraordinary International Socialist Women’s
Conference, on the strength of the Stuttgart resolution, which recommends
the use of the economic and political crisis, brought about by the war, for
rousing the people to accelerate the collapse of the capitalist system, on
the strength of the Copenhagen resolution, which says that it is the duty
of deputies to vote against war credits, and of the Basle resolution, which
says that the workers consider it a crime to shoot down each
other—declares that the representatives of most of the socialist parties
of the belligerent countries acted in complete discord with these
resolutions and, succumbing to the pressure of circumstances, committed a
real betrayal in respect of socialism, sup planting it with nationalism; it
insists that the proletarians of all countries have no enemy other than
their class enemy—the class of capitalists.

Thehorrible suffering caused by this war awakens in all women,
especially proletarian women, a growing desire for peace. Declaringwar
on all imperialistwar, the conference at the same time believes that
if this desire for peace is to be transformed into aconscious
political force, working women must well realise that the propertied
classes are striving for nothingbut annexations, conquest and
domination, that in the epoch of imperialism wars are inevitable, and that
imperialism threatens the world with a series of wars, unless theproletariat musters enough strength to put an end to the capitalist
system by the final overthrow of capitalism. Every working woman who
wants to shorten the period of suffering connected with the epoch of
imperialist wars, must strive to have her urge for peace develop intoindignationand struggle for socialism.The working woman will attain her
aimin this struggleonly through a revolutionary mass movement,
and a strengthening and sharpening of the socialist
struggle. Consequently, her first duty is to support the trade union
and socialist organisations and break the civil peace by fighting against
the war credits, against entry into bourgeois ministries, by supporting and
spreading the idea of soldiers’ fraternisation in the trenches on the field
of battle, by setting up illegal organisations wherever the government has
abolished the constitutional freedoms, and finally, by drawing the mass
into manifestations and revolutionary movements.

TheInternational Socialist Women’s Conference calls on the working
women of all countries to start this struggle right away, organising it on
an international scale, and closely tying in their work with that of the
socialists of all countries who, like Liebknecht, are lighting against
nationalism and waging a revolutionary socialist struggle.

Atthe same time, the conference gives working women a reminder that in
the most advanced countries of Europe the objective conditions for
socialist production are already there, that the whole movement is entering
a new phase, that the current world war imposes fresh and serious duties
upon them, and that their movement may be the forerunner of a general mass
action which could give fresh scope to the whole socialist movement and
advance the hour of final emancipation. By taking the initiative in staging
demonstrations and revolutionary manifestations, working women, marching
hand in hand with the proletarians, could usher in a new era of proletarian
struggle in the course of which the proletariat will win socialism in the
more advanced countries, and a democratic republic in the more backward
ones.

{1}The International Socialist Women’s Conferencewas held at
Berne from March 26 to 28, 1915. It was called on the initiative of the
magazineRabotnitsa’sorganisation abroad with the close
participation of Clara Zetkin, who was at the time Chairman of the
International Socialist Women’s Bureau. All the preparatory work for the
conference was carried out by I. F. Armand, N. K. Krupskaya and others
under Lenin’s direction. The conference was attended by 29 delegates from
women’s organisations of Britain, Germany, Holland, France, Poland, Russia
and Switzerland. The seven delegates from Russia included four from the
R.S.D.L.P. Central Committee (Armand, Krupskaya and others) and three from
the O.C. Most of the delegates to the conference were under the influence
of the Centrists, which is why instead of discussing general socialist
tasks in connection with the, war, the conference confined its work to
discussing Clara Zetkin’s report “On Socialist Women’s International
Action for Peace”. The resolution on this question was worked out by Clara
Zetkin with the participation of delegates from Britain and Holland and was
of a Centrist character. The representatives of the R.S.D.L.P. Central
Committee motioned a draft resolution written by Lenin, which indicated to
the socialist women the revolutionary way of fighting against the war and
international opportunism. Inessa Armand spoke for the draft at the
conference, which however adopted the resolution drawn up by Clara Zetkin.

Leninassessed the conference as an attempt to restore international
ties and tried to use it for the purpose of rallying the internationalist
elements on a revolutionary platform. But, as he pointed out later, this
and other conferences of internationalists held at the time, while being
inspired by the best intentions, did not lay down a militant
internationalist line..., “they confined themselvesto repeating the old resolutions” and “at best weremarking
time”

(see present edition, Vol. 21, p. 325).

Thematerial on the International Socialist Women’s Conference was
published in a Supplement toSotsial-DemokratNo. 42 on June 1,
1915.

p. 346